Roshan Seth OBE

Overview

Roshan Seth was born and educated in India. In 1964, after obtaining an M.A. in Modern Indian History, went to London to train as an actor at LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art). He began his acting career, that now spans over 55 years, in England. After an extraordinary World Tour in Peter Brook's celebrated RSC production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream", he returned to England to brood on the bleak prospects facing a foreign actor, unable after almost 15 years, to make his mark. In 1977, he decided to return to India and took a 5-year break from acting to allow accumulated doubts and disappointments time to sort themselves out. Richard Attenborough then offered him the role of Nehru in "Gandhi". David Hare then offered him the lead role of Victor Mehta in his new play, "A Map of the World" that opened at the Adelaide Festival, went on to the Sydney Opera House, then The Lyttelton at the National in London and finally to the Public Theatre in New York. In 1987, he returned to the National's Olivier Theatre to play The Fool to Anthony Hopkins' "Lear", directed by David Hare. His film credits include "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (Steven Spielberg),"A Passage to India" (David Lean), "My Beautiful Laundrette" (Stephen Frears), "Such a Long Journey" (Starla Gunnarson) for which he won a Canadian Academy GENIE as Best Actor. He was honoured with the Sophia Haque Award for services to British Film & Television by the Asian Media in Britain. In March 2017, LAMDA made him a Fellow of The Academy. In 2006, he was awarded an OBE.